Cranky, aging newspaper publisher Anne Canfield is determined to live forever, no matter what. Young, brilliant writer and teacher Indira Anand thinks she wants to die. But the winter morning Anne saves Indira Anand from drowning, everything changes.
That evening, Anne stumbles and falls. Diagnosed shortly after her fall with incurable brain cancer and only months to live, she must hurry to save her newspaper, heal her regrets, keep her secrets hidden, and protect her son from the truth before time runs out.
Indira, suffering a second incidence of ovarian cancer, wants to invoke her right to die. Thwarted by both the law and her distant husband but desperate to escape the pain she watched her grandmother endure, she wavers, unsure of her decision.
Out of options, Indira reaches out to Anne. Even as they make a pact to help each other, Indira realizes Anne won't live long enough to be with her at the end. She must find another way.
Meanwhile, Anne's daughter-in-law, Laura, suffering her own loss and resentful of her husband Freddy's flagging attention, discovers Anne's secret. In a move she's sure will hasten Anne's death, Laura locates Anne's old lover, Colin, and goads him to turn up at Anne's home, hoping he'll upset the family she hates. For good measure, in an attempt to cause a rift between mother and son, Laura suggests to Freddy that Colin is his father.
Leave is a story about what keeps us wanting to live, what we'll do for redemption, and how love can save us.